1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cable routing structure. More specifically, the present invention relates to a cable routing structure for securing a flexible flat cable to a wiring board.
2. Background Information
With a conventional electronic device, a control-use wiring board is usually attached to a rear face of a front panel of the electric device. The control-use wiring board is connected to a main board by a flexible flat cable. In most cases, a cable end of the flexible flat cable on the control-use wiring board side is soldered to a surface of the control-use wiring board. To prevent solder separation at the cable end, the flexible flat cable is fixed at a location near the cable end by double-sided adhesive tape to the surface of the control-use wiring board, so that the soldered cable end will not be subjected to tensile force or bending stress.
A conventional cable routing structure for a bendable wiring board (e.g., flexible flat cable) includes a bendable wiring board, a base and a moving body. The bendable wiring board is formed in a form of a strip. The base has a first fixing component that fixes one end of the bendable wiring board. The moving body has a second fixing component that is disposed movably with respect to the base and fixes the other end of the bendable wiring board. The bendable wiring board has a first bent component, a second bent component and a middle component. The first bent component is bent so that front and back faces are substantially inverted. The second bent component is bent in the opposite direction from the first bent component. The middle component is located in between the second bent component and the first bent component. A part of the middle component is supported in a fixed manner by a support component. An area near the part is pressed on by first and second pressing components. The middle component is deformed into a peaked shape in side view (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2003-309381, for example).
Another conventional cable routing structure for a flexible flat cable, the flexible flat cable is provided with a slack component for absorbing movement distance of a pickup of a disk device. The slack component is provided with two bent parts where bending goes back in a reverse direction. An L-shaped latching piece is latched to one of the bent parts, so that a connected end is not affected by sliding of the pickup and load produced by the movement of the flexible flat cable near the connected end (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2006-31910, for example).
It is also known that a pickup main body and a circuit board are connected with a flexible wiring board in which a middle part is bent in a free state, and expansion of a bent portion of the flexible wiring board is suppressed by a pressing tab provided to the pickup main body (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. H6-243601, for example).
However, when a location near the soldered end of the flexible flat cable is affixed to the surface of the control-use wiring board with double-sided adhesive tape, the affixing step and the expense of the parts, such as the expense of the double-sided adhesive tape, drive up the cost. Furthermore, when a vibration test or drop test is performed, the double-sided adhesive tape separates, which exerts a force on the soldered end of the flexible flat cable. Thus, solder separation occurs at the cable end.
Also, a housing of an electronic device is assembled by fitting upper and lower covers to the front panel to which the control-use wiring board is attached. When the covers are fitted, the flexible flat cable is pinched by the covers.
With the flexible flat cable routing structure in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2003-309381, moving parts is moved smoothly. However, when the connected end of the cable is soldered, the solder separation will occur. Again with the cable routing structures in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006-31910 and H6-243601, since a location near the connected end of the cable is not fixed, the solder separation will occur when the cable connection portion is soldered.
Also, none of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 2003-309381, 2006-31910 and H6-243601 is equipped with a means for preventing damage to the flexible flat cable by pinching during fitting of the cover to the front panel, so applying the technology in these patent documents does not prevent damage to the flexible flat cable by pinching.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved cable routing structure. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.